


This is, Regrettably, Halloween

by angelwing



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Halloween Gift Exchange, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 03:25:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5114213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelwing/pseuds/angelwing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only thing Simon Monroe hates more than his job, where he's stuck working at a small cafe with the most annoying boss in the world, is all things fall, especially Halloween. So nobody (except perhaps his friend and co-worker Amy Dyer, who seems to be oblivious of his hatred towards the holiday) is surprised when he shows up to work on the day before Halloween in the worst mood imaginable.</p><p>But then Amy invites Kieren, a young homeless boy she finds outside, in for a cup of hot chocolate and a chance to warm up, and Simon suddenly finds himself struggling to keep his bad attitude.</p><p>------------------</p><p>Written for the In the Flesh Halloween Fanwork Exchange!</p>
            </blockquote>





	This is, Regrettably, Halloween

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Michaelssw0rd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michaelssw0rd/gifts).



> Happy Halloween! This was a hard fic for me to write as I've been dealing with bad writers block and real life issues, plus it's very much not the kind of story I'm used to writing, but I tried my best and I'm pretty happy with the results! Also, I love the Walkers and I really doubt they'd actually ever kick Kieren out, so for the sake of this AU lets just say Kier has a totally different family here...
> 
> Anyways, like I mentioned already, this was for the Halloween Gift/Fanwork Exchange. It's a gift to AO3/Tumblr user michaelssw0rd. I hope you enjoy, Tee! Hopefully this isn't a total disappointment, haha.

When Simon stepped out the door that morning, he was instantly blasted with a gush of surprisingly cold air. He shivered and hugged himself, grateful for the large, oversized jumper he had worn today. It was foggy this morning - a sort of thick fog that hung low, masking even his close neighbors’ houses. The cold air was crisp and stung his lungs, chilling him to the bone. Fall really was in the air, he supposed. He also supposed that shouldn’t come as a shocker to him. After all, it was only a day before Halloween. Fall was here.

Not that Simon was particularly happy about it. Truth be told, fall had been his least favorite season for years now, but he preferred not to discuss why. In fact, as Simon began his walk to work that morning, he did his best to think about absolutely anything but the season, finding the topic unpleasant to even briefly dwell on.

But with autumn still fresh in his mind, Simon seemed to notice it everywhere. The trees were changing, he noted as he walked past a front yard where the trees had gone from a bright green to fiery shades of red, orange, and yellow. It was close enough to Halloween that decorations were up everywhere. Fake cobwebs on bushes, plastic tombstones set up in flowerbeds, pumpkins sitting on front porches. For someone who disliked the holiday, and the entire season in general, it was all very frustrating.

When he made it to work he was surprised by his own relief. He did not enjoy work, could not stand his boss and found the job itself utterly boring more often than not, but the prospect of being inside in a warm building that typically did nothing to embrace the Spirit of Halloween was more than a little appealing to Simon this morning.

“Simon Monroe!”

Simon had not even made it to the door when he heard his name being called. Amy Dyer stood in the doorway of the small cafe, waving excitedly at him with one hand while the other stayed hidden behind her back. “Simon!” she called again, beckoning him over. “Get over here, silly!”

Simon smiled and, with just a bit of reluctance, walked to the front of the cafe to meet his co-worker. “Hi, Amy, what di-”

“Boo!” Amy shouted, and Simon flinched. The hand that had been hidden before now was in front of him, holding a small, fancy-looking card decorated by hand in purple and orange glitter. “You’re invited to my annual Halloween party, Mister Monroe.”

Simon stared at Amy, trying to figure out how to respond to this. Now that he was really looking at her, he noticed she was dressed up (well, Amy was always dressed up; she loved to wear huge, fancy looking dresses with all sorts of bright colored patterns). It wasn’t until his eyes landed on the pointy hat that he realized she was a witch. He sighed with mild exasperation. “I don’t celebrate Halloween, Amy. You know that.” She had invited him every year since they had started working together, and he had never once attended.

Amy rolled her eyes. “I _know_. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to invite you! Maybe one of these days you’ll have a change of heart, and when that happens, wouldn’t it be dreadful if you couldn’t come to my party because you’d been such a stick in the mud that I’d just given up on you?” She giggled and shoved the invitation into his hand, and Simon sighed again.

“I’m surprised you dressed up,” Simon said as he began to walk to the back of the cafe, to the counter that he worked behind. “Didn’t Gary tell you off last year?” She had been a black cat then.

Amy giggled again and followed him to behind the counter. “He did, but I’m not giving in! If he fires me over a Halloween costume, that’s his mistake. He’d lose a valuable worker just because he couldn’t handle how cute she looked.” As she talked she turned to the back room and walked in, rummaging for a moment before returning with napkins and refilling the napkin holder on the counter. Simon watched her, unsure of what to say to that.

Then the door swung open and a man walked in, and Amy looked to Simon and grinned, nudging him lightly and mumbling, “Speak of the devil.”

Devil indeed, thought Simon, watching as Gary Kendal walked to the counter that both he and Amy were behind. The Boss. Simon sighed, calling out a rather irritated, “Hi, Gary.”

Gary didn’t respond. Instead, he turned to Amy. “What’s this, then?” he asked, nodding to the pointed hat that rested on the top of her head..

Amy smiled brightly. “A witch’s hat, Mister Kendal.” she said. Her tone was bubbly, but there was a hint of sarcasm to it. She was just as fed up with Gary as Simon was. “You are aware that tomorrow is Halloween, aren’t you? Or d’you spend all of your time outside of work locked in your room in the dark or something?” She continued to smile brightly as she spoke. Simon couldn’t believe she hadn’t been fired yet.

Gary decided it was best not to respond to this either. Instead, he sighed and shook his head, and said, “I’ve got a ban on costumes here, Dyer, you know that. Got a strict dress code to enforce!” This wasn’t true, Simon thought, there was no actual fixed dress code. He figured it was best that this not be brought up. “During your next break you’re going home to change, understand?”

“Fine,” Amy shrugged. “But guess who isn’t getting an invite to my party this year?” She asked the question in a singsong voice, and Gary, yet again, refused to answer.

xxx

The rest of the morning was slow. Then again, work was always slow here. Their cafe wasn’t necessarily bad. Simon personally liked the food, and he certainly thought he made decent enough coffee. But it was nowhere near any large organizations or businesses or schools that would draw customers to it. In fact, it was rather in the middle of nowhere, with only a small neighborhood around it. Nobody ever saw it, and there were other, larger, more conveniently located, more popular places that one could go for a cup of coffee in the middle of the day.

But it was especially slow today. Weekdays in general were never as busy as weekends, as most people were in work or at school during the hours that they were open. A few people came in throughout the morning, most of them ordering a quick cup of coffee or perhaps a cinnamon roll before quickly heading out. For the most part, however, it was obvious that there was a good reason there were only three employees working there today.

At nine o’clock (Simon could have sworn it was later than that, he felt like he had been standing behind the counter for an eternity), Gary walked out of the backroom and said, “Right, I need to go pick a few things up. We’re nearly out of those mini half-and-half containers, and I may as well pick up anything else we’re running low on while I’m out. I’ll be back in an hour, understood?”

Simon almost laughed at that. Amy had a bad habit of drinking those when they got bored. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she had drunk at least five of them since work had begun this morning.

“Dyer, Monroe, you two take care of the cafe while I’m out. Anything goes wrong, you’re both fired.”

With these ever-so-pleasant parting words, he was out the door, and Simon and Amy were left alone. The first thing Amy did was let out a loud sigh of relief and roll her eyes. “Simon Monroe, if I ever complain about you being a stick in the mind again, kindly remind me of the absolute king of the mud-sticks, Gary Kendal.” She poured herself a mug of hot chocolate and walked to the front of the cafe to sit down at one of the tables. She was currently the only person to have sat down here today.

Simon stayed behind the counter. Leaning on it, he watched her for a moment, considering reminding her that Gary didn’t like when they sat out there during work hours but figuring there was no point. Gary wasn’t here, anyway, and he really did not feel like trying to stick up for him. He yawned and said, “Just want October to be over already.”

Amy looked up at him at that with a raised eyebrow. “ _Why,_ Simon?! Why d’you hate Halloween so much? Fall is so nice! The weather changing, the cool air, the colorful leaves, the _spooky_ atmosphere-”

“I just _really fucking hate it,_ okay?”

Simon was surprised by how angry and dismissive his own tone had been. He stood up straight, eyes wide, and he opened his mouth as if wanted to give an apology but found himself at a loss for words. He was still angry and hurt - How dare Amy try to force him to like something that he so clearly hated?! - but he hadn’t meant to hurt her in return…

Amy seemed more surprised than anything else. Her expression going blank, she gave a terse response of, “Nevermind, then,” and turned away, to instead look out the window and into the parking lot. After a moment of awkward silence in which Simon seemed to sink further into guilt and bitterness with both Amy and himself, Amy let out a soft, “Hey!” This was promptly followed by, “There’s a boy out there!”

Wondering what this could possibly mean, Simon finally left the counter and walked to meet Amy where she sat at the table. He gazed out of the window in the direction she had been looking. Sure enough, a young boy sat out in the parking lot. He was sitting alone, bundled up in a large grey sweatshirt and hugging himself tightly. He looked young, and Simon grew worried. “Should we do something?” he asked Amy softly.

Amy stood up just as he asked. “I’m going to see him.” she decided. She began to walk to the entrance, and Simon, eyes going wide, ran after her and grabbed her arm just as she had reached the door. “Is there a problem, Simon?”

“Are you really going out there to talk to some strange boy?”

“Well, why not?”

Simon stared at Amy doubtfully for a moment, wanting to argue further. It wasn’t safe, he thought. Talking to strangers was bad, he thought. What was the point in interacting with a total stranger sitting outside alone anyway? he thought. But he also realized that arguing with Amy was pointless. When she had made her mind up about something, there really wasn’t much one could do to stop her. Simon let go of her arm and reluctantly took a step back.

He then watched from the doorway as she walked out into the parking lot and began to talk to the boy. They were too far away to hear clearly, but Simon could pick up traces of their conversation. The boy mentioned something about not wanting to be a bother, and Amy said something about hot chocolate. They both talked quite a bit about the weather.

And finally, after a solid five minutes, Amy skipped back to the front of the cafe. And to Simon’s surprise, the strange boy was following her. As he approached the entrance and drew nearer to where Simon stood watching, Simon was able to get his first good look at him. He did not look like he could be any older than twenty. And he was… pretty, for lack of a better term. He had large, dark eyes and long, golden eyelashes, and his skin was pale and perfect, save for the red tint to his nose and cheeks that had undoubtedly been caused by the cold weather.

“Er, hi.” the boy greeted awkwardly as he saw Simon in the doorway. Simon moved aside for him, allowing he and Amy to both enter. The boy stood now in the front of the cafe, his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt, looking around curiously.

Simon turned to Amy. “Well?”

“His name is Kieren,” Amy explained. “He’s got nowhere to go, so I invited him inside for a cup of hot cocoa!” She walked to a table in the front and pointed to it. “Come sit down, alright? Make yourself at home! Our boss is out right now so you’ve got nothing to worry about!” She laughed.

The strange boy, Kieren, sat down at the table, and Simon followed Amy as she walked back behind the counter to prepare the promised hot chocolate. Speaking in a hushed voice so their guest would not overhear, he asked, “We can’t just let homeless people into the cafe like this, Amy. We’ll get in trouble.”

Amy was focusing on making the cocoa. “Hm, well I care more about a boy who’s alone on the streets than I do about Gary throwing a fit about how to properly run a business.” She smiled at Simon, took the mug of hot chocolate, and walked back over to Kieren and placed it in front of him on the table. “Here you go, Kieren! Do you need anything else?”

Kieren smiled gratefully, taking the mug, but shook his head. “Um, no, I’m fine. Thanks, though.”

A very uncomfortable silence followed after that. Kieren’s presence made having casual conversations feel a bit awkward for Simon, and Kieren did not seem very keen on saying anything. He sat silently at his table, occasionally playing with his fingers or tracing patterns on the tabletop but otherwise sitting still. With nothing else to say or do, Simon found himself watching him from behind the counter, curious about him but hesitant to engage in any sort of conversation. Amy tried a few times, but was met with short, one-or-two-sentence responses from the strange boy.

Gary returned, as promised, just about an hour after his departure. Simon suddenly did not mind the awkward silence that much.

“Everything went smoothly while I was gone, I’m assuming?” he asked as he walked through the cafe to meet Simon and Amy behind the counter. He then looked at Kieren. “A customer, eh? What was the order?”

“Actually, his drink was more of a… gift.” Amy said.

“What?”

Simon swallowed. “He didn’t pay, he- I don’t think he even has any money.”

Gary had a look on his face as if Simon and Amy were not speaking English, as if he couldn’t possibly understand a single word they were saying. “So you… gave him a drink anyway?”

Amy nodded. Simon was relieved that she was taking the blame for this. With an air of confidence Simon could not imagine someone having with their asshole of a boss, she replied, “Well, yes. He was outside alone in the cold, and it didn’t seem right. I invited him in for a hot chocolate. Is there a problem with that?”

“Is there?!” Gary’s hands had clenched into fists. “Are you stupid? We need to make money, Dyer, not give away free drinks to homeless teenagers! If he can’t pay, kick him out.”

Simon let out a sigh. “I’ll pay,” he muttered. He supposed something about the boy interested him enough that at the very least he didn’t want to see him be thrown out into the cold. “I’ll pay for his drink, alright? Don’t throw him out.”

Gary was visibly upset by this, but he said nothing else, instead taking a moment to glare challengingly at Simon. Then, with a huff, he said, “Fine. But he leaves in an hour. I’m not letting some kid steal my employees’ money and take up space.” Then he turned to Amy. “Go change your outfit!” he snapped. Amy flinched with surprise, but once she had recovered from the initial shock she rolled her eyes. “I mean it, Dyer. Go home and come back when you’re wearing something more appropriate.”

xxx

Ten minutes later: Amy was gone, Gary was in the back room, Simon stood at the counter in silence, and Kieren was still there at the table in the front. Simon had never wanted a day to end more in his life.

“Thank you.”

Although it was soft and quiet, Kieren’s voice came so suddenly that Simon jumped. He turned to the boy, eyes wide for a moment. “Hm?”

“For buying my drink. Thank you for that.” Kieren looked down at the now-empty mug in his hands. Simon watched him curiously. For a homeless boy, he certainly didn’t look very dirty. His clothing was relatively clean and his hair was brushed and was by no means starved. How long had he been on the streets...? He gave a small smile, but Simon recognized it as a bitter one. “I’m sorry if I was a bother.” Kieren said softly.

Simon furrowed his brow at that. “Bother? N- No, it was nothing. Hot chocolate is pretty cheap here.” He chuckled awkwardly.

Kieren laughed at that and looked back up at Simon, watching him for a moment. His gaze was surprisingly intimidating to Simon (perhaps it was those eyes; they really were huge), and he looked away with a faint flush to his cheeks. “Why’d you do it, though? You didn’t seem like you really wanted me here.”

“I dunno,” Simon admitted.

“Did you feel sorry for me?”

“N- Not really,” Simon felt a bit guilty for admitting it, but it was the truth. It was not that he was totally unsympathetic, but he had his own numerous problems to deal with, and did not typically spend a large amount of time focusing on other people.

Kieren laughed at that response. “Then why?”

Simon thought about it for a bit. He went silent, and Kieren waited patiently, watching him with those wide, intimidating eyes of his. “I guess… I was interested.” he finally said. “You intrigued me, and I didn’t want to send you away so quickly.”

There was a bit more silence after that. Kieren took a moment to play with his empty cup that had previously held the hot chocolate Simon had paid for. Simon was worried that Kieren may be upset with him for his response. Had he offended him? Was that the reason for his silence?

The next thing Kieren said was a very quiet, “I’m probably not as interesting as you think.” He pushed the mug away and shrugged. “Just an idiot who made a stupid mistake.”

Simon thought about this for a moment. _Now_ he felt sorry for him… “Well, we all make mistakes.” God, that sounded cliche… Hoping to turn that around, he added, “Are you interested in elaborating?” Cautiously, he walked around the counter and to the front of the cafe, closer to Kieren. Kieren watched him as he approached, not saying a word, and once he was in front of him he did nothing but shrug.

Then he spoke. “I had this stupid idea that it would be a good idea to come out to my parents.” He looked down at the floor beneath the table where he sat. “That I like boys, I mean.”

“Did they kick you out for that?” Simon’s sympathy was replaced with anger. Not at Kieren, of course, but at his parents. He himself was gay, and he had never bothered to come out to his father, already knowing ahead of time what the response to that would be like and knowing it was something to try to avoid. But the idea of kicking out your own child for such a thing was unimaginable to him, and utterly disgusting.

But Kieren just shrugged. “Kinda,” he said softly. “It wasn’t the first thing. I was just… constantly a burden. I tried to kill myself earlier this year.” He chuckled quietly. “Medical bills were ridiculous, no wonder my parents were so upset. Also dropped out of college because I was too depressed. Basically, this year’s been shit, and it’s been all my fault, and my parents were sick of it.” He shrugged again.

“That’s not right.” Simon said bluntly. “They- They can’t just kick you out because you were having a hard time.”

“Well, they did.”

“But that’s terrible!”

Kieren was seemingly unable to argue with that. It _was_ terrible. But it was the reality of the situation.

Simon then remembered his thoughts from earlier. Kieren didn’t look homeless. He frowned and asked, “How… recently… were you kicked out?”

His theory was proven correct. Kieren looked back up at that, raised an eyebrow, and said, “Last night.” Kieren had only been on his own for a single day. Although he had first come to the realization that he had been only homeless for a short period of time earlier, hearing it confirmed by Kieren himself made the reality of this fact come crashing down on Simon, and he felt immensely bad for the boy. Before he could say a word in response, though, Kieren laughed bitterly once more and said, “And you know what’s really shite about the whole ordeal? This used to be my favorite season, my favorite time of year. I thought it’d be nice to come out before Halloween. I- I had this stupid idea that they wouldn’t hate me for it, and they’d accept me, and it would make Halloween even more special. Instead it… well, the holiday is ruined now, isn’t it?”

Simon was utterly shocked by how close to home these words hit. Jaw dropping open, he stared with shock at Kieren for a moment, his own emotions seemingly exploding within him, memories resurfacing that he had been forcing himself to ignore for years. Then, without thinking, he said, “Me too.”

“What?”

“I- I lost my mother… On Halloween six years ago she died. I loved her. A- And my dad, he’s… he’s not good, so I had to move out after that. It was my favorite holiday before then, but I can’t even think about it now. Not without remembering her dying.” Simon explained. He was pretty sure he had never told anyone this before, and he could not believe he was telling someone who was practically a stranger now.

Kieren stared at Simon for a moment, eyes wide. Then he hummed and looked away. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“I’m sorry too. About what you’ve had to go through.” Simon replied. He looked down. The silence that followed after that felt much more natural. He did not feel uncomfortable with Kieren’s presence anymore, he noted vaguely. “You don’t deserve to have gone through any of the things you have. I know how it feels, and it's not true. It's not your fault.”

“Wow,”

“What?” Simon looked up at Kieren when he heard him speak, confused by this response.

Kieren shook his head. “Nothing, I’ve just… never heard anyone tell me that before.” He smiled at Simon now. A genuine smile, not one of the bitter, self-deprecating smiles he had been making earlier. It was pretty (really, everything about Kieren was pretty), and Simon found himself smiling back hesitantly. For some reason, it felt like it had been a long time since he had last smiled.

xxx

Amy got back a few moments later, now in a purple, orange, and black dress (still Halloweenish, just no longer a costume, so as to please Gary). She was pleasantly surprised to find Kieren was still there, and when she greeted him with a cheerful “Hullo!”, she was even more pleasantly surprised to find him respond with an equally cheerful greeting.

She walked up to Simon, who had returned behind the counter, and instantly asked, “Did you talk to him?”

“A little,” Simon replied. He may have blushed just a bit. “He’s nice.”

Amy was in an incredibly good mood after that. She seemed pleased with herself for having the idea to invite Kieren in, and even more pleased with Simon for seemingly befriending the boy and lifting his spirits by a considerable amount. Her good mood seemed to rub off on Simon, who for the first time since he had arrived here this morning felt surprisingly cheerful, at least enough so that time did not seem to be crawling by hopelessly slow for once.

Kieren even occasionally said something, striking up brief conversations, mentioning how cold it was getting and how foggy it had been this morning, commenting on how he had never even heard of this cafe until he found it by wandering random neighborhoods this morning, asking questions about various items on the menu. It was all very pleasant, and all three people - Amy and Simon and Kieren - seemed to be having a rather nice time.

Then Gary came out of the back room.

He looked at the clock that hung on the wall, and then pointed an accusatory finger at Kieren. “Time for him to go,” he said bluntly, clearly not caring whether or not Kieren himself heard this and was hurt by it.

Amy sighed. “Come on, Gary! It’s cold out, and Kieren hasn’t done anything wrong. The company’s been nice!”

“Yeah? He should have enough money to buy more things, then. All he’s done is take your money and take up space in my cafe. If he wants to stay, he shouldn’t have come empty handed.”

“He didn’t 'come empty handed.'” Simon snapped. Amy’s eyes went wide and she turned to stare at him, shocked to see him so blatantly defending the boy he had earlier been so reluctant to even let inside. “He was kicked out of his house. He has nothing, and he's living on the streets, so we let him in for a warm drink. Is that really that _terrible_ of a thing to do?”

“From a business perspective? It bloody well is.” Gary argued back. “I don’t care what sob story they come to me with, I’m not about to start letting homeless teenagers use my cafe as a hangout. If you want to help the needy so damn badly, go work at a homeless shelter. Not here, where I have money to make and a cafe to run. Now, kick the boy out, or I’ll do it myself.”

Simon looked like he wanted nothing more in that moment than to continue arguing with Gary, perhaps even cuss him out or punch him. But he has a job to keep... Instead, he turned to face where Kieren had been sitting.

Only to find that Kieren was gone.

“Where did he go?” Simon asked, although he did not expect Gary or Amy to know the answer.

“He must’ve left while we were talking,” Amy said with a sigh.

“I’m going after him.”

“What?!” Amy turned to Simon and, once more, her eyes were wide and her voice was filled with shock. “Are you crazy?”

Simon ignored this question and walked to the front of the cafe. He grabbed the front door. Just as he was about to open it and go outside, he heard Gary call, “Simon, if you leave now, you’re fired. An employee who walks out for some homeless stranger is not an employee I feel comfortable working for me.”

Simon paused briefly to consider this warning. He wasn’t sure where else he would go if he lost this job. He _did_ need the money. But then he thought back to Kieren, thought back to his pretty face and eyelashes, thought back to the way he had laughed so bitterly at himself and then, eventually, given him that small smile after he had felt, for the first time in what may have been years, like he was not a complete failure. And Simon wondered why the fuck he was so concerned about making money when Kieren was out there in the cold with no money at all.

“Gary,” Simon turned around. The smile on Gary’s face made it clear that he thought he had won. But Simon continued to speak. “A boss who cares more about some bullshit concept of ‘business’ than the life of a homeless boy isn’t a boss i feel comfortable working for.”

Then he opened the door and walked out.

He was instantly met with cold. It had gotten even cooler throughout the day, and Simon’s face stung as he walked through the parking lot, keeping an eye out for Kieren. He called out his name, hugging himself tightly and shivering as he walked. He left the parking lot, walking down the pavement on the sidewalk now. Kieren was still nowhere to be seen, and panic was beginning to set in. Simon thought back to what he had said before, about him attempting suicide earlier this year. Would he hurt himself again now?!

“Kieren!” Simon called. Suddenly someone grabbed his arm and he whipped around, hopeful for a brief second, but his hope plummeted when he found himself staring at Amy. “What’re you doing out here?!”

“I left the cafe too, Simon. I’m going to help you find him, okay? You and I split up, I’ll go that way.” Amy pointed to the opposite direction on the sidewalk. “I’ll call you if I find him.”

The two split up after this, Simon and Amy going their separate ways. Simon continued to call out for Kieren, by now too worried about the safety of the boy to care much at all about the cold. He could ignore the weather, but he could not ignore the risk that Kieren may be hurt. “Kieren!”

“What?!”

Simon turned quickly. A bundle of grey sat beneath a tree, in a pile of colorful, fiery leaves. There was Kieren, bundled up in his oversized grey sweatshirt, shivering and hugging himself. Simon ran to him and knelt down in front of him, relief rushing through him. “Kieren!” he cried out. “Wh- Why did you leave?!”

“That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” Kieren rolled his eyes and looked down. “I heard you all talking, your boss wanted me out. I was just being a burden.” He grabbed a handful of the dead, fallen leaves and crumpled them up before throwing them angrily. “That’s what I always am.”

Simon shook his head. “That’s not true, Kieren.”

“How can you say that?! You hardly know me at all.”

“But I can understand some of the things you’ve been through.” Simon reasoned, and he realized now why he cared so much about the boy. “I lost my mother this same time of year, and I haven’t been able to like it ever since. My father is awful, he’s never accepted me, he really hasn’t wanted anything to do with me since Mom died. I’ve dealt with depression too, and I’ve hurt myself too.”

“What point is this supposed to prove?!” Kieren asked bitterly. He hugged himself tighter.

Simon shook his head. “None. I just want you to know that I understand some of what you’re going through. And I want to help, if I can.” He reached out and placed a hand on Kieren’s shoulder. Kieren furrowed his brow, watching curiously. “Is there anything I can do?”

“I dunno. Make me not homeless.” Kieren rolled his eyes.

There was silence for a moment. Kieren briefly considered asking Simon to please just leave him alone. But then, after a small smile, Simon said, “I can do that.”

“What?” Kieren looked up at him instantly at these words.

“Come back to my house and stay with me if you want.” Simon offered. “I just lost my job, until I find work somewhere else I guess I’ll be home pretty often, and I could use the company.” He tentatively took hold of Kieren’s hand and stood up before helping pull the younger boy to his feet as well. Kieren was staring with wide eyes. “Does that sound okay?”

“It sounds too good to be true…” He clearly meant these words. There was obvious hesitation and doubt in Kieren’s tone and in the expression on his face.

Simon shook his head. “I mean it. Come stay with me.” He smiled and, using the hand still holding Kieren’s, he tugged him even closer. Kieren quickly accepted this, deciding he wanted the warmth that came with being close to another person, and pressed into the jumper Simon wore. It itched a bit, but it was remarkably warm, and he rather liked being in Simon’s arms.

“Alright,” he decided quietly.

Eyes lighting up, Simon immediately grabbed Kieren in a tight hug at that. “Great!” He was surprised by his own excitement. But the idea of not being alone really was nice, and he really did like Kieren. And although being unemployed would be difficult, there was something incredibly relieving about knowing he would not be seeing Gary anymore.

Oh, speaking of that…

Simon took a step back and pulled out his cellphone. “I need to call Amy,” he said. “She’s still looking for you. We were really worried when you ran off.” He dialed her number and waited, and a moment later she answered with a worried but eager,

“Hello?!”

“Amy, I found him.” Simon said. “He’s completely fine. I’ll meet you back at the parking lot, okay?” He looked at Kieren, who was still holding his other hand and smiling at him. “Er, _we’ll_ meet you back.”

xxx

“Do I look okay?”

“I told you already that you look cute,”

“But I don’t want to look _cute_ , Simon. Zombies are supposed to be _scary_.” Kieren was staring into the mirror at his own zombie makeup. He had applied it himself - As it turned out, he was an artist. Simon was currently trying to figure out how to get the fake plastic vampire teeth to stay comfortably in his mouth.

Simon laughed, causing the teeth to become dislodged again and nearly fall out. “You look plenty scary, don’t worry, Kier.” He pushed the teeth in once more and walked over to Kieren, kissing the top of his head. “Besides, you don’t have time to mess with the makeup anymore, if we don’t go now we’ll be late to the party.”

Kieren reluctantly followed Simon out of the bathroom. As they walked to the front of the house, he asked, “Are you sure you want to go? You said before that you associate Halloween with bad memories. I hope you’re not just doing this for me.” He had only been with Simon for about a day, and he still worried about bothering him, about secretly being a terrible burden.

But he wasn’t.

Simon smiled and shook his head as they stepped outside. It was cold out, but he knew they would warm up once they started walking. Besides, Amy’s house wasn’t that far. “I want to go,” he promised. “It’ll be a little weird, I haven’t celebrated since Mom died...” He took hold of Kieren’s hand and squeezed it. “But I mean… I lost my job, invited a stranger to come live with me, and started dating him a day later… I think it’s as good a time as any to try something new.”

They began to walk down the driveway and down the street. Kieren chuckled. “If Amy’s party ends up being a disaster we can always just go home and cuddle.”

“Good backup plan.”

-end


End file.
